Simpatica 3.0 : Star-crossed
by Denigoddess2001
Summary: Elisa and Goliath realized all is not as they left it. Especially when the schedule an 11:30 AM lunch date with Lex and his Significant Other. Wry humor. Yes, please have some. Mix well and chill before serving.


  
Denigoddess2001@aol.com  
Simpatica 3.0  
BE CAREFUL INTO WHAT YOU CAST ENERGY....  
09/123/2001  
  
DISCLAIMER: GARGOYLES DON'T BELONG TO ME, I JUST WISH THEY DID. THEY ACTUALLY BELONG TO DISNEY. NO INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.  
  
Goliath remained silent as he and Elisa took in the beauty of the sunrise. In Norway aided by the Eye of Odin, he had felt the warmth of the midnight sun upon his Gargoyle skin. While under the relic's magickal geas, he had been unable to truly cherish the wonder and the brilliance of Earth's single star. Goliath stared in awe of the late September morn with the sun shining brightly on the Eastern horizon. He simply stared in awe at the sable-eyed seraph beside him as much as the daystar in the sky.   
  
Elisa stood beside Goliath still and serene. Her long, black hair fell about her shoulders framing her striking features. Goliath purred lovingly as he drew her to him. He stood behind his ladylove and wrapped his powerful arms around her. He gave into the temptation of resting his chin upon the top of her head. It felt so good and natural merely to hold her close and take in the sunrise with his beloved.  
  
[How I wish that I still had wings to keep the chill from her skin.] Goliath nuzzled aside some of the thick tresses and planted a kiss upon delicate shell of her ear. [Even in my reverence of the Goddess, I've never dared to ask for such a gift. Now, every unspoken wish has come true and I'm here in the daylight with Elisa! Jalapenia! I'd have given my life just for one day like this with her. Now, here it is as if it were merely another day like all the others.]  
  
Goliath closed his eyes and simply inhaled the sweet scent of cinnamon, musk, and jasmine. His body reveled in the warmth of Elisa snuggled intimately against him. He focused his thoughts upon an omnipresent emerald dragon with amethyst eyes and a dry, subtle wit. [Thank you, Goddess for this priceless, precious gift you have given us. Thank you for this astonishing blessing.]  
  
"Hmmm..." a low murmur interrupted his reverie as Elisa drew back to look at her lover. "What are you thinking about, Big Guy?"  
  
"You, My Love." Goliath pressed a tender kiss to the delicate shell of her ear. "I am basking in the glory of this morning. I want nothing more than to live forever in this moment of being with you like this and loving you."  
  
No matter the form, Goliath's deep, seductive baritone carried the enchantment of bringing the hard-as-nails-detective well-nigh into a swoon.  
"Wow, you're a morning person."  
  
He cocked his head quizzically not quite understanding the meaning of her words. Elisa turned so that her cheek restd against the wall of Goliath's smooth, broad chest. "I love you too, Goliath."  
  
[You're not the only one, Big Guy, who wants to spend enternity locked in an embrace. I could get used to this being a daily thing.] The steady, rhythmic cadence of Goliath's heartbeat was a serene aide memoire that this was warm, soft, and fuzzy reality. [You know, reality doesn't bite. It nibbles.]  
  
Elisa's giggle was accompanied by the protests of a growling empty stomach. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."   
  
"Shall we dine in the same restaurant?" Goliath said with an ominous tone. He swiftly swept Elisa into his powerful embrace. "Or shall we order room-service?"  
  
Elisa brought her arms around the strong column of her lover's neck and whispered against his skin. "Guess which one gets my vote?"  
  
***************  
  
Much later after another bout of torrid lovemaking, the two sat in bed savoring the delicacies of a "farmland" breakfast. Goliath had the sheet wrapped around him. He took the last succulent bite of French Toast that remained on his plate. He seemed to have forgotten the brief lesson Elisa had given him on table manners because he kept speaking with his mouth full.  
  
"Love, how are we going to get home?"  
  
"That's a good question." Elisa retrieved her wrinkled clothes from the floor beside the bed. "I think our best bet is to rent a car and just drive back to the city. We've went through all my cash and all I've got left is my credit card."  
  
"Then, that is what we shall do." Goliath draped the sheet around her shoulders and went to the packages lying on the table by the window. He pulled out the same pair of jeans and boots that he had worn the previous evening. He rummaged through the purchases from the drug store and came across some things that didn't seem quite familiar. "Elisa, what are these?"  
  
"The thing in your left hand is a toothbrush and the thing in your right is toothpaste." She flashed him a pearly smile. "Lesson Number One about being human: proper hygine."  
  
Half an hour later, Goliath still marveled at the feeling of the cascading water against his skin. It had soothed his muscles and invigorated him in a way a roar and a stretch after stone sleep could never do. Elisa explained to him the concept of shaving and how very few men looked good running around in 5 o'clock shadow.  
  
"By why is it called five o' clock shadow?" Goliath asked precociously as any small child. Elisa showed him how to lather up his face with the shaving cream. She took the men's razor in hand and showed him how to shave.   
  
"The reason it's called , 'five o' clock shadow', Goliath, is because men need to shave every day. You shave in the morning and by five o' clock this afternoon, you'll look you're in need of another shave."  
  
"This is a ritual that human men must perform every day?" He asked. He let out a yelp as a sharp sting tingled on his cheek. "It is a painful one!"  
  
"The secret, you big lug, is to HOLD STILL." Elisa grabbed some toilet paper and took a small piece between her fingers. She crumpled it into a small wad and pressed it against the cut. "Hold this against the cut and it'll stop bleeding."  
  
"I'm thinking that the men in the tenth century were wise not to shave."  
  
"I like my men clean-shaven. If I liked them hairy, I'd date one of the guys from ZZ Top." She carefully began shaving the other side of Goliath's square jaw. "I think that you could do this better than I can. Why don't you give it a try?"  
  
"Perhaps." He looked over at the remorseful detective eyeing the nasty nick on his high cheekbone. "But, I hope that you will stay with me as I do this, Love."  
  
He barely survived the shaving experience. He almost lost his breakfast when he made the mistake of swallowing the toothpaste rather than using it to clean his teeth. He thought he smelled too much of flowers and powders when Elisa explained the importance of deodorant. "You humans mask everything about yourselves. Why?"  
  
"Because we don't have the luxury of stone sleep to rejuvenate us and keep us nice and clean." Elisa said as though she were humoring a very small child. "It's no longer, 'you humans', Goliath. Now, it's 'we humans.' You're one of us, Big Guy, whether you like it or not."  
  
He held his wet tresses in his hand. "I like it very much, but I don't care for the complicated rituals that you put upon yourselves."  
  
"It's not so bad once you get use to it." Elisa winked at him in the bathroom mirror. She went to her leather jacket in the other room and returned with a black hair band and a small pocket comb. She pointed to the closed lid and pointed. "Sit."  
  
Goliath's brows arched in question but did as she bade him. While he strattled the stool facing the wall, Elisa carefully pulled the comb through the wet, dark tresses of Goliath's hair. He flinched a few times when she came across some tangles. After a few minutes, his hair was free of any further snarls. She took the plain black hair band and deftly gathered his hair into a queue at the base of his neck. With a few flicks of the wrist and a few agile twists, Goliath's hair was fashionably secured at the nape with the black band.  
  
Goliath stood and studied Elisa's handiwork in the mirror. He turned to her and gave her a smile and an approving nod. "Thank you, Love. But I think I detest shaving."  
  
  
************  
  
Elisa and Goliath rented a nice four-door sedan and headed to New York. Goliath found that Elisa enjoyed driving while listening to the radio. She favored the more urban music she called "rap" and "hip-hop." Goliath said nothing but considered it more along the noise that barbaric Vikings made before the onslaught of battle. He found that he enjoyed hearing the gentle strains of Stravinsky and Chopin. After a power struggle between them for the radio dial, they found an oldies station that appealed to both of them.  
  
Elisa realized that Goliath the human was somewhat different that Goliath the Gargoyle. Normally, her Gargoyle was silent and contemplative: rather stoic and taciturn. Goliath the human was mischievous and lively. His laugh was an erupting geyser of sound that started from deep within his diaphragm, ran through his chest and burst forth as rich, full laughter.  
  
Elisa grabbed her cell phone from her inside jacket pocket. She flipped it open and asked him to punch some numbers. "We need to let Xanatos know what's going on so he doesn't freak and tweak when we arrive back at the Eyrie building."  
  
"I have not thought of what I'm going to tell the others." Goliath said gravely. "I do not know how they will respond to my....change."  
  
"It's not like it's not permanent." Elisa immediately regretted saying the words. For in her heart of hearts, she wished his change were irreversible. "You're just going to be human for the next 29 days."  
  
"Where will I stay?"  
  
"With me, Goliath." She took his hand in hers and brought it to those full, sensuous lips as he had done with her the previous night. "And I'm looking forward to every minute of it."  
  
The phone rang for several seconds. She expected the voice on the other end of the phone to be that of Xanatos. Instead, she heard a familiar tenor greet her. "Thank you for calling Eaton Enterprises."  
  
"Lex?" She asked in bewilderment.   
  
"Elisa?" Came the concerned reply. "Where are you? Where's Goliath?"  
  
"He's with me." She shook her head in disbelief. "How are you able to talk to me during the day!? It's almost ten o' clock in the morning, Lex."  
  
"I know I stay up late sometimes working on some new trading futures." Lex explained. "But, you know me! I'm always to work by eight sharp."  
  
"You should be in stone sleep right now."  
"Elisa, none of us could sleep last night. You and Goliath just took off and said that you wouldn't be back until it suited you." The exasperation grew in Lex's voice. "When will you be home?"  
  
"UH...we're on our way." She looked at Goliath and mouthed the words 'Lex is awake.'  
  
"Let me speak with him." Goliath motioned for her to hand him the phone. "Lexington, where are you?"  
  
"Goliath, I'm just glad you're al right." The voice on the other end of the line greeted him. "Currently, I'm at the office. If I don't get back to work on this project, I won't be able to make my deadline. Hey, what are you and Elisa doing for lunch?"  
  
"We do not..." Goliath cleared his throat. "currently have plans."  
  
"Why don't you and she join Lynn and I for lunch?"  
  
"Lynn?" Goliath asked not quite knowing to whom Lex was referring.  
  
"Yeah, Lynn." Lex sounded as if he thought Goliath had lost his mind. "You know; my significant other. Why don't we eat at that little deli near our house?"  
  
Elisa whispered. "Ask for an address?"  
  
"Uh, Lex, where is the restaurant?"  
  
Goliath repeated the address to Elisa and she scribbled it down as she drove. She noticed that her lover seemed rather dazed as he closed the phone and handed it back to her. "We are having lunch at La Pazerati with Lex and someone named Lynn."  
  
"Goliath, something isn't right here." Elisa felt her blood pressure rising with the increasing stress. "We called Xanatos Enterprises and we get Eaton Enterprises. Lex is alive and well during the day and wants us to eat lunch with him and somebody called Lynn at a restaurant I've never heard of in my life. From the looks of this address, this should be in the middle of Manhattan near the World Trade Center."  
  
"I am as confounded as you, Elisa." Goliath shook his head in confusion. "I think much more has changed that simply me being human. I think that the Dragon Goddess has given us a dose of strong irony and humor along with your wish."  
  
"What do you mean?" Elisa asked warily. She let forth a blue streak of curses as a driver in the left lane swerved in front of her without signaling. Goliath looked rather taken aback by her nasty language. "Sorry, it happens sometimes. You've never ridden with me when I drive."  
  
"I am learning new things about you all the time." He admitted. He returned his attention to her previous question. "Many entities of legend and lore are benevolent tricksters. The Native Americans had Coyote and Raven. The Norse had Loki. Xanatos has Puck. We Gargoyles have Skylaris."  
  
"I thought that Skylaris was a kind, loving old lady." Elisa shrugged. "When Demetrius and Wren were here, they couldn't stop sing her praises. I thought she returned with them to their own dimension."  
  
"True. But, as with every trickster entity comes the penchant for practical jokes." Goliath licked his lips and rested his chin upon steepled hands. "When you made your wish, it must have caused the Goddess great mirth to cast it."  
  
"It seemed to do just that."  
  
"Demona once told me, 'Be Careful, Goliath, into what you cast energy for it may come true.' Little did I know that she spoke of the laws of sorcery. When your wish was granted us, Love, Skylaris may have well set the rest of the world upon it's ear as one large prank." Goliath decided to fasten his seatbelt when Elisa dodged some tipped pylons in the middle of her driving lane.  
  
**********  
  
Elisa and Goliath managed to find parking near La Pazerati. They strolled hand in hand toward the restaurant; half in curiosity and half in anxiety. Elisa and Goliath surmised that if Lex were awake during the day he must be-  
  
"Guys!" That familiar tenor called out to them. They turned in its direction to see a dark-haired short young man waving them over to a table. Dressed in a power suit of navy and a burgundy tie, they barely recognized Lexington. It was when they saw his briefcase, laptop computer, and cell phone that they knew it was their favorite computer wizard. "Over here."  
  
The looked at each other and said nothing as they made their way to the al fresco table adorned with a hunter green table cloth and a crystal vase of freshly cut wildflowers. Goliath remembered from previous reading that it was standard etiquette to pull out a chair for a lady. As he did so, he nodded to the younger man across the table. "It is good to see you...ur, Lex."  
  
"Goliath, you had us worried sick last night." Lex's chastisement came somewhat as a shock. "Poor Angela was just about to climb the walls. Hudson called every hospital in the city. We checked with Derek and Dominique, with the Maza's, and with the Xanatos and we couldn't find you anywhere. Xanatos has been frantic wondering where you've been for the past two days."  
  
"I apologize for ...having caused you worry, Lex." Goliath remained stunned. He couldn't resist asking. "Derek and Dominique?"  
  
"Yes, Angela was so worried that she called Derek and Dominique Maza."  
  
"What!" Elisa screeched. "Are you saying that my brother married to that-"  
  
"I know you two don't like each other because Dominique is Goliath's ex-wife, but we didn't know who else to call." Lex tried his best to calm down the detective. "It's not like you to be so blunt."  
  
"Let me get this straight! Derek is married to Dominique Destine?"  
  
"You know she is." Lex looked over her shoulder and waved. Goliath and a very stupefied Elisa turned to see a young man dressed in leather chaps and a 'Limp Bizkit' tee shirt approach them. He wasn't much taller than the slender young man with them. The biker was lithe and wiry and stood about six feet. Goliath noticed the piercing, burning gaze. Elisa saw the shock of untamed white hair.   
  
"Brooklyn!" They cried in unison.  
  
"Ah, c'mon, guys! Can the nickname. Ya know my name is Lynn Brooks." He sat his motorcycle helmet on the table and flashed them a friendly smile.   
"Good to see ya."  
  
His accent held a touch of the borough of the same name. He turned to face Lex. Arms went out and the powerful executive was soon entwined in the embrace of the motorcycle enthusiast. Lex pulled Lynn's head close to his own and they exchanged a brief, passionate kiss. Elisa's jaw dropped as if she were going to say something and then it closed again. Goliath sank into his chair as if hit by lasorfire.  
  
"Goliath, I don't think we're in our New York anymore."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED.......  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
